It’s Always the Husband – Review

It’s Always the Husband was a page flippin’ contradiction for me. There were parts I loved and thought were clever and parts I hated. My feelings were similar to the traits and relationships of the characters themselves.
Aubrey, Kate, and Jenny come from different worlds, placed together as roommates in their first year of college. Looking forward to new starts and the best years of their lives, the trio forms an unlikely friendship despite the odds being against them. One girl is poor as dirt from the other side of the country, one is a middle class “townie” with high ambitions, and the other has friends in high places with the world bowing at her feet. The story switches perspectives from past perspective to present day, 20 years after the girls’ freshman year. It follows up with their married lives and their mysterious strained relationship from events happening in their early college days. As we delve into each character’s psyche at different times, we unearth new tidbits about their less than stellar friendship, despite the women still classifying themselves as best friends.
It is a challenge to review a book with such despicable characters. Each person within the pages was selfish, shallow, egotistic, and only involved with the others for the benefits they could reap from the friendship. Yet, the women loved each other deeply. I’ve probably never read of such flawed characters before! While the story featured some mundane hum-drum in the lives of the women, it was essential to understanding the dynamic between each character and was crafted perfectly. The characters are train wrecks, and despite my frustrations with them and the story being a bit slow for the first half, I kept chugging along to find out what disaster would befall them next.

Normally I enjoy a faster-paced mystery, with more excitement and angst. I also rarely enjoy reading about the lives of rich people because their lifestyles do not appeal to me. However, I am glad I stuck it out for the ending of the book. My favorite part was being able to see the book’s title worked into the story. The “Who-Dunnit” conclusion piqued my interest more than I expected in the first half and I found the ending to be a bit of a shocking surprise.

As a contracting story would go, with equal measures of love and hate, I find myself on the fence about my feelings toward It’s Always the Husband. For that reason, I had to stay in the middle of the road and give this novel 3 of 5 stars. I didn’t love it or hate it, but found it interesting enough. I would still recommend this story to fans of this genre due to its unique story.